Birth Story Collections {Emsley’s Breech Home Birth}

Let me rephrase that, breech babies are normal and you can have a home birth with a breech baby! Just because you have a breech baby does not mean you need to schedule a c-section.

Let me introduce you to Joleen! She is married to Logan and they live in Minnesota. They are parents to Emsley and are expecting their second baby any day! Some of Joleen’s interests include hunting, camping, and just doing things outdoors. Joleen loves being a stay-at-home mom and spending time with family. Joleen is very involved in our church and am passionate about teaching the word of God to kids. She teaches Sunday school, and is part of an after school program teaching kids the gospel. Husband, Logan, at the time of this story, worked for his parents at Wilderness Family Naturals, but since then he has gotten a new job working for Minnesota Power.

Here’s their story…

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I became pregnant in November 2010. Logan and I both came from large families and were very excited to start a family of our own. The first 3 months of my pregnancy were very hard.

Suffered from extreme morning sickness

I worked a full-time job at Wilderness Family Naturals and suffered from extreme morning sickness, which was almost unbearable at times. After the first trimester, I was down to 111lbs. Finally, after entering the 2nd trimester, I started feeling much better. From then on the pregnancy went very smoothly. Aside from the fact that I carried Emsley so high she was constantly in my ribs, making life very uncomfortable. My posture improved dramatically! It was either sit up straight or don’t breathe.

At about 32 weeks Annette Fischer (our birth helper) informed us she believed the baby was head down. The baby still had a lot of room to move around and we knew that there was a chance the baby wouldn’t stay head down.

I took herbs to prepare for labor

We had several check-ups with Annette, as time grew closer to the due date. Everything seemed to be going well, and at two weeks out the baby dropped. I have to admit, right before the baby dropped, I thought there was a chance she had changed positions, but being it was a first for me I didn’t speak up and let Annette know. A word for the wise…

always trust your instincts!!!

Up until she dropped I had no stretch marks, but all that changed when she dropped. Over the last two weeks of my pregnancy I managed to get several stretch marks along the underside of my belly. Up until then I had been so hopeful I would get lucky and come out stretch mark free. I guess that was foolish thinking!

We had one last check-up and everything seemed to be okay. Annette wasn’t quite sure of the exact position of the baby. She thought the baby may be posterior facing, but even though a few things seemed a bit uncertain Annette seemed to be confident everything was going to work out just fine. Now all we had to do was wait.

My water broke getting ready for bed! It’s show time!

Then, around 10:00 P.M. July 26th, as I was getting ready for bed my water broke. It was show time! We called Annette and let her know my water had just broke. She told us to try and get some sleep and wait for labor to start.

Shortly after crawling into bed labor began. Not intense labor, but enough to make sleep impossible. Over the next couple of hours labor slowly increased in intensity. At about 1:00 in the morning the contractions were coming about 2 minutes apart and lasting for about 40 to 50 seconds. Shortly after, we called Annette and she joined us. I started to lose track of time, I was focused on getting through one contraction at a time. Knowing every contraction was bringing me one step closer to the end.

Everything Annette told me I should be experiencing didn’t really seem to be happening.

I didn’t seem to be dilating like I should be. I began preparing myself mentally for a much longer labor than I originally expected. At some point in time, contractions began coming back to back, giving me no relief in between to regain my composure. I lost track of time from there. I remember feeling surprised to see the sun coming up.

My body wanted to push, but I wasn’t fully dilated

I began to feel the urge to push, but I forced myself to resist. I wasn’t dilated very far, and it seemed I had a long way to go before my body would be ready for pushing. I didn’t want to wear myself out by pushing too early. But it wasn’t long before I couldn’t resist any longer.

Annette gave me the go ahead to try pushing and see if I could move the baby. It was only a few pushes before Annette began to see the baby.

She soon realized the baby was a footling breech!

Annette became slightly concerned. Both feet were coming through so we knew the baby was footling breech. Which explained why I had not been dilating the way I was supposed to be. Annette asked me to stand to help the process go more smoothly. It was only another couple pushes before the baby was all the way through with only her head left to go. Annette slid her finger up into the baby’s mouth and I gave the final push. Out she came! She wasn’t breathing, so Annette quickly went to work suctioning out the baby’s mouth and nose so she could breathe. It seemed like forever before she took her first breath. But after that everything was all good. She was nice and pink and immediately wanted to nurse. Annette said she had never seen a breached baby so pink.

A few minutes later as I held my beautiful daughter I gave one final push and delivered the placenta.

I couldn’t have been more grateful with how smoothly things went considering the circumstances. I am so thankful Annette knew exactly how to handle things. Looking back I would not change a thing. If I would have known Emsley was breech, I would have been tempted to go the medical route and more than likely I would have ended up with a C-section. I am now even more confident about having a home birth as I head into it for a second time.

There are so many wonderful benefits to having your baby at home; I would recommend it to anyone.

PHOTO CREDITS: Logan & Joleen

Further Reading:

Breech Birth: A Collection of Articles from Midwifery Today Magazine

Birth Without Fear: The Principles and Practice of Natural Childbirth

Breech Babies are a Variation of Normal: Birth Without Fear Blog

Breech Does not Equal C-Section: Birth Without Fear Blog

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Comments

Hello Rashel, I love your youtube video on how to make Brie…excellent video, I also used your cheddar video. However, my Brie didn’t develop mold around the sides, why is that? Let me know what I can do next time so the mold grows evenly around the entire cheese disk/puck. Thanks Rashel :o)

My two guesses are that there might not have been enough air circulation around your disks, if they were touch a side, mold usually doesn’t develop. Also, it could be to to low humidity. It’s important to have the cheese in a box if you can’t get to that high humidity… a box will help you reach humidity 🙂 keep trying. You’ll get it next time.